Adjustable buffers for weaving looms



6, 1955 J. PICANOL 2,715,423

ADJUSTABLE BUFFERS FOR WEAVING LOOMS Filed Sept. 27, 1951 Jaime flea/w! WWW United States Patent ADJUSTABLE BUFFERS FOR WEAVING LOOMS Jaime Picanol, Zandberg, Zillebeke-lez-Ypres, Belgium Application September 27, 1951, Serial No. 248,613

2 Claims. (Cl. 139-188) The present invention relates to the construction of improved buifers for the batten of weaving looms. As is well known it is necessary in weaving looms that the buffers be disposed on both sides of the loom and should be actuated simultaneously by the stop-rod noses mounted on the oscillating batten of the loom. However, it is prac tically impossible to position the buffers and/ or the stops thereon in an absolutely correct manner: the numerous intervening parts would have to be constructed and mounted in such close tolerances that the construction price of the loom would become prohibitive.

Although the buffers are not often actuated at the same moment, the ensuing inconveniences must be tolerated because no practical means have been devised, as yet, to overcome this trouble.

Generally speaking, the buffers in the weaving looms are constructed in such a Way that their initial or rest position is duly predetermined though non-variable. This situation can create serious troubles not only in the func tioning of the loom itself because of the actuation of the buffers under different conditions, but equally because of the fact that said buffers remain unchanged regardless of the type of fibres being woven. When it is desired to weave, with a given loom, and to obtain good results, coarse fibres such as cotton or more delicate fibres such as silk, it is known that the initial position of the buffers should not be identical. When a delicate fibre such as silk is to be woven, it is advisable that the loom batten be stopped by the buffers long before the moment which is deemed proper to stop the batten when weaving plain fibres such as cotton. On the other hand, when weaving plain fibres, stress is laid on the weaving speed, whilst in the weaving of more delicate fibres, the quality of the fabric is deemed much more important, even at the loss of production speed. As the initial position of the buffers determines the working speed of the loom, because the shuttle should reach the shuttle box before the stop-rod noses on the batten about the buffers, and because the closer the buffers are to the batten, the sooner the shuttle must reach the shuttle box and consequently the greater must be its speed, it will be understood that it is most impractical to provide buffers having a non-variable initial position.

The general object of the invention resides in the provision of means to make the initial position of the buffers variable and adjustable thereby preventing all the disadvantages of the known buifers the initial position of which remains unchangeable.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of buffers so constructed as to be urged towards their initial position by means of their return spring which is acting against at least one thrust bearing the position of which is adjustably variable along the longitudinal axis of the buffer, and of its return spring. By axially varying and adjusting the position of said thrust bearing the initial position of the buffer may be modified and adjusted.

Another object of the invention is the provision of fit 2,715,423 Patented Aug. 16, 1955 extremely simple means for longitudinally adjusting the buffers rapidly and easily and by operating a single accessible member by means of a tool which is found in the usual toolbox required for the upkeep of the loom.

These simple means consist in making one end of the return spring of the buffer abut a stationary abutment and the other end abut an end flange of the bufier body, and in disposing a bolt along the axis of the buffer body, its head resting on said stationary abutment, and its threaded end going through the flanged end of the buffer body to be fitted with an appropriate nut which forms a movable and adjustable stop against which the butter is immobilized in its initial position under the urge of its return spring.

An embodiment of the invention is described here after as a nonlimitative example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a longitudinal section of the improved buffer according to the invention; and

Figure 2 is a schematic end view of the buffer and its support.

In this embodiment the buffer body 1 has a longi tudinally extending hollow bore and a lower longitudinal T-shaped groove 2 for receiving the rail 3 which serves at the same time as a support and as a guiding element for the buffer. The buffer body 1 is open at its rear end and provided at its front end with an inwardly extending flange 4 defining a central aperture. In the open rear end engaging with little friction is a stationary abutment member consisting of a ring 5 disposed in such a manner that said buffer body 1 can move longitudinally in both directions relatively to said ring 5. A return coil spring 6 extends within the bore of the body 1 and is constrained by resting at one end on the flange 4 and at the other end on the abutment ring 5. Along the axis of the buffer body 1 is disposed a bolt 7, the head 8 of which is resting on the external face of the stationary abutment ring 5 and the threaded end 9 of which carries a nut 10 which is inserted into the central aperture of the flange 4 of the buffer body 1. This nut 10 presents an annular shoulder 11 which forms a stop for said buffer body 1. By tightening or loosening the nut 10, the annular shoulder 11 will be moved longitudinally and the initial rest position of the buffer will be modified accordingly. For the same reason, the distance separating the stop 12 on the buffer body 1 from the free extremity of the stop-rod nose 13 of the stop-rod mounted on the batten A, will be changed and also the moment when contact will occur between said nose 13 and said stop 12, will be varied.

In Figure 1, there is represented in dotted lines various initial rest positions which the buffers can adopt through the simple rotation of the stop-nut 10. Therefore, by these simple means it will be possible to adjust easily and rapidly the initial position of the buffers of a loom, in a manner to provide a simultaneous contact between the nose 13 and the stop 12 of the buifers body 1 on each side of the loom according to the kind of fibers to be Woven and also according to whether emphasis is to be laid on the quality of the fabric or on the speed of production.

It is obvious that the bolt 7 of the butter will be held stationary relatively to the loom of the frame; for instance, it may abut at both ends the upright walls B of a suitable recess C made in the loom frame for receiving the buffer according to the invention.

While a preferred embodiment according to the invention has been illustrated and described, it is understood that various modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the ap pended claims.

I claim:

1. A buffer for a loom having an oscillating batten provided with a stop rod nose, said bufier comprising a stationary bolt mounted on said loom and threaded at one end, a coil spring surrounding said bolt, a shouldered nut engaging the threaded end of said bolt, a buffer body having a bore receiving said bolt and spring and having an inward flange at one end, slidable on said nut, said spring engaging said flange to urge said buffer body to take a rest position in which said flange abuts against the shoulder of said nut, a ring mounted on the other end of said bolt for abutting the other end of said spring, and a stop mounted on said buffer body for engagement with said step rod nose, so constructed and arranged that rotation of said nut on said bolt will vary the rest position of said bufier body With respect to said loom.

2. A buffer as claimed in claim 1, including a T- shaped guiding support member rigidly secured to said loom and slidably engaging a longitudinally extending T- shaped groove made in said buffer body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,093,088 Toyoda -2 Apr. 14, 1914 1,544,032 Potez June 30, 1925 2,093,226 Bahan Sept. 14, 1937 2,363,538 Loepsinger Nov. 28, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS 6,464 Germany Aug. 2, 1879 773,597 France Sept. 3, 1934 

